Sunday, December 28, 2014

Early UFO Reports -- 1948-The Chiles / Whitted Encounter

Many people in the aviation industry will tell you
privately that if you knew how many airplane near-misses there were each and
every day, it would certainly concern you. But what if this also was happening
between UFOs and planes? There are at least two well documented cases of this
very thing. One of them is theGorman Dogfight with a
UFOwhich
occurred in 1948, and a sighting which occurred over Montgomery, Alabama, on
July 24, 1948.

Red Glowing Object:

Two veteran
pilots, Captain Clarence S. Chiles, and co-pilot John B. Whitted were flying an
Eastern Airlines DC-3 from Houston, Texas, to Atlanta, Georgia, when their
journey into the mysterious began. The DC-3 was flying 5,000 feet over the city
Montgomery, Alabama. Up to this point, there had been no problems during their
journey. But this was about to change. At 2:45 A.M. their routine flight was
abruptly interrupted by the sight of a dull-red, glowing object.

No Wings, No Tail Section:

The object
appeared to be directly in their path of flight. The two pilots had no cause to
think anything other than there was another airliner in their vicinity, albeit
unreported. Almost before they could react, they saw the object coming right at
them. The object streaked by, just barely edging to their starboard side. The
unknown object could not have been more 1,000 feet away. When reflecting on the
near-miss later, both pilots agreed that the UFO had no wings, and no tail.

As Long As a B-29:

They also had
seen two rows of windows, which appeared to be extremely reflective. It is
amazing how much the human mind can retain with only a brief view of something.
The two pilots also recalled that the object's front section was pointed, and
along its belly was a blue glow. This glow ran the full length of the UFO.
Exhaust of a red color could be seen at the end of the object. The UFO's size
compared favorably to a B-29, except with a thicker body.

Object Vanished Momentarily:

As
to the near miss, Captain Chiles could tell that, if anything, the UFO was
veering slightly to his right, so the veteran pilot turned his plane just to
the left to allow more separation space. Whitted stated that the UFO seemed to
disappear momentarily after an abrupt vertical climb. This close call would be
the most frightening experience of his flying career.

Sound Like a V-2 Rocket:

One point that
drew differing opinion was whether or not the DC-3 felt any after shock from
the passing of the UFO. Strangely, both pilots stated that they recalled no
disturbance from the passing of the object. However, other witnesses of the
unknown object's near miss would remember that the plane was "rocked"
by the waves from the UFO. A sound, like that of a V-2 rocket were also heard
by some.

Witnesses on the Ground:

One saving grace for many of the passengers was that,
because of the hour, they were asleep at the time of the incident. But there
were also witnesses on the ground who saw the UFO. Several individuals from
Robbins Air Base, located near Macon, Georgia, also saw the unknown object.
Their description was consistent with that of the two pilots. Their observation
was about 1/2 hour before the DC-3 encounter. After tracing 225 flights of the same
morning, a passenger plane was ruled out, according to a government official.